Wonderful Adventures of Nils (Version 2)

One careless act turns a troublesome Swedish boy into something small enough to ride on a goose's back. Nils Holgersson has spent his years causing chaos and avoiding responsibility, but when he captures a forest elf and treats it badly, magic strikes back: he shrinks to elf-size and gains the impossible ability to understand every animal he meets. Now Nils must do what he has always run from. A flock of wild geese is departing for their annual migration across Sweden, and he stows away on one of them. What begins as a desperate bid to survive becomes an extraordinary journey through the length and breadth of his homeland. From the southern coast to the far north, from ancient forests to windswept mountains, Nils encounters dangers, wonders, and creatures that test everything he thought he knew about himself. The only way back to his old life is through changing his heart. More than a children's adventure, this is a story about how travel and tenderness can remake a human being. Selma Lagerlöf wrote Nils into Swedish consciousness so completely that his statue still stands in Stockholm, a reminder that one small boy on geese taught a nation what it means to grow up.